Report: Vikings don’t think Sharrif Floyd will resume his NFL career

The 2016 regular season opener for the Minnesota Vikings saw Sharrif Floyd on the field in his usual role as a three-technique tackle in the team’s defense. After that game, he had what was supposed to be a routine surgery on his knee that was supposed to keep him out for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, thanks to a botched surgery on that knee, Floyd has not played since due to some issues with his quad not firing, thanks to nerve damage that came during the surgical procedure. While the word this preseason was that Floyd had made progress, internally it sounds like the Vikings aren’t expecting the big man back.

With quarterback Teddy Bridgewater recently coming back from a devastating injury, there have been some folks on social media wondering if there was any sort of update on Floyd’s status. In a recent mailbag column in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, our own Ted Glover posed the following question to the beat writers:

The answer, unfortunately, is not one that any of us want to hear.

The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling reported this month the Vikings don’t think defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd will be able to resume his playing career. Floyd, on the non-football injury list with a contract that can expire in March, has not been seen around Winter Park by reporters since this summer, when he was continuing to push through rehab from nerve damage suffered during knee surgery in September 2016. Floyd said this spring he still was unable to run. It’s been a devastating turn for a talented player who had already overcome difficult circumstances to play professionally.

Floyd is in the fifth-year option season of his rookie contract. Because fifth-year options are guaranteed against injury and Floyd was unable to pass a physical before the start of the new league year, the Vikings were on the hook for his salary this season, a shade over $6 million.

This really is an awful situation, both for Floyd and for the Vikings. Floyd has been a very, very good player when he’s been on the field, and his presence would make the Vikings’ defensive line. . .which might already be the best in football. . .that much deeper and more devastating. He’s still a young player, and there’s a chance that things might turn around for him, but it doesn’t look like the Vikings are counting on him ever putting on the purple again.

Here’s hoping that things change for Sharrif Floyd and his situation, because it would be awesome to see him resume his career. If it doesn’t happen, however, hopefully there’s a place in the organization for him somewhere.